Tire mounting machines have been known and used for many years. The machines aid in the process of removing a tire from a rim, and also in replacing the tire with a new one to the same rim. The tire-mounting machine improves efficiency in replacing the tires, which increases the productivity of tire shops, garages, dealerships, and other automobile businesses in being able to change tires for a customer's vehicle rather quickly and with minimal physical work.
Most tire mounting machines include a tabletop to which the tire and rim are mounted upon before removing the tire from the rim. On these tabletops are sometimes found an adjustable set of clamps or jaws. The clamps or jaws attach to a bottom lip of the rim of the tire to secure the tire to the tabletop during the removal process. In addition, the clamps or jaws are sometimes adjustable to be able to handle a varying range of tire and rim sizes. However, the range is limited and generally do not accommodate smaller tires and rims. For example, standard machines can only be adjusted to handle a minimum rim diameter of six inches. Some items, such as lawnmowers, wheelbarrows, two-wheel dolleys, and snow blowers, have tires with rim diameters of only four or five inches. Therefore, the standard machines are not able secure the tire and rims, nor are they able to remove the tires from the rims.
Methods do exist for removing the tires from the smaller rims. One method involves a person manually wedging the tire off the rim with a shaft or bar. However, this method is both difficult and time consuming. Because physical force is used, there is also the possibility that the rim could be damaged.
Another method involves the addition of bulky items to the tabletop to replace the standard jaws or clamps to secure the smaller rims to the tire-mounting machine. The addition may be a circular plate, which is heavy, difficult to attach to the table top, and difficult to store due to the size and weight of the plate. Another method involves a set of jaw or clamp covers that are placed over the clamps on the tabletops. Again, the covers are bulky and are difficult to store. In addition, the clamp covers are limited as to the type of tire mounting machines that they can work with, and to the rim diameter that they are able to work with. The covers are generally used with ATV tires, which are larger than four to five inches. The covers are used to raise the tires instead of being able to reduce the diameter of the standard jaws or clamps.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an attachment and method of use that allows a user to reduce the diameter of the jaws or clamps of standard tire mounting machines to allow the machine to remove tires from rims having diameters generally of five inches and less.